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"I will remain in this position by 2027," the Prime Minister declared, noting that if the conversation was successful, he might welcome the interviewer into Downing Street for another conversation in 2026.

For a PM, there's never truly downtime for those in the top job. Shortly before we sat down, Sir Keir had been speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and working to understand precisely had happened in Venezuela, where his key friend, US President Donald Trump, had just attacked and captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

By the time our interview, which was considerably lengthier than usual, had concluded, Maduro had been indicted in New York.

A Reboot for the New Year

But as the new year begins, Starmer seems to have had a degree of a refresh. Perhaps even just some downtime with the family at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat.

That certainly appeared to have left him in improved morale than at the sluggish tail end of 2025, a terrible political year for him.

Yet, are he and his colleagues being unrealistic if they think his political fate are set to turn around?

Party Concerns

The harsh reality for the prime minister is that numerous of his colleagues are convinced he's underperforming at his job. Several of them would rather gamble and oust him in 2026.

But Sir Keir was dismissing such talk during our conversation on Saturday morning.

Repeatedly he insisted he'd be "judged at the poll", maintaining nobody would strip his term from him – despite the fact that the most effective strategy of halting Nigel Farage and Reform UK getting to No 10 might be for Labour to replace leader.

"We are in the struggle of our generation and I intend to guide the party," he said.

The Spring Test

The challenge for the PM is that he will be assessed far sooner than then – in a mega set of elections in May throughout the UK. He tried to contend, perhaps too much, that they are concerning who runs local authorities, and who runs the governments in Holyrood or Cardiff – and not about Westminster.

Accurate – to some extent. But even though he may not want to acknowledge it, No 10 will be evaluated by those elections too.

Despite this, Sir Keir stating that there were no situation under which he would walk away, should one of his MPs contested his leadership for the job, should those elections prove very poor for Labour.

Predicting a Turnaround

He tried to account for his unpopularity by saying the electorate was understandably impatient for things to change. He aimed to convince the interviewer, and the nation, that 2026 would be different.

The economy would improve notwithstanding rising unemployment, he argued, when plans the administration implemented during their initial choppy year began to take effect.

• He vowed to shut asylum hotels before the current target date of 2029, but he wouldn't put a specific date on that.
• He noted too, with the caveat that it was not a foregone conclusion, that a peace agreement in Ukraine felt more likely now than at any point since Russia's comprehensive invasion.
• He stated for the first occasion that Western allies were now considering how to coordinate US and European forces to provide security for Ukraine – to guard a potential peace.

His core message is that in 2026 the country will "see an improvement".

A Consistent Script

The PM may have communicated with renewed vitality than I've seen from him for a some time – more relaxed, perhaps, with more time to talk.

However, in spite of encountering calls from within his own party for a more decisive approach, with greater political vision, more urgency, more speed and more immediacy, his arguments were familiar ones.

Given that he is in such significant political trouble, should he consider a different script?

No administration, and certainly not one that has been unpopular for many months, gets everything its as planned.

The Prime Minister's challenges are not only because governing is difficult, but because he and his colleagues have faltered, even in the last few weeks.

Controversies and Dangers

The prime minister told me that he was sorry for saying he was "pleased" to welcome back the Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd El Fattah to the UK after an backlash when past remarks he'd made in the past – such as calls for Zionists and police to be killed – resurfaced.

Starmer attributed it to "the process" for not catching what the activist had said before – a more diplomatic way of saying it wasn't his responsibility.

And he is inviting evident political perils as the year progresses. His friendship with the US president entails a new complication after Trump's intervention on Venezuela.

Based on years of interviewing Sir Keir Starmer, a ex- human rights lawyer who was against the war in Iraq, over many years, the notion he would be content with this kind of intervention seems far-fetched.

Policy Stances and Pressures

He told me he was a "longtime advocate of international law" but the public "just do not have the full picture at the moment".

Critics demanded condemn it prior to we spoke. And the government is expected to face increased demands to give an definitive view in Parliament in the coming days.

There has also consistently been growing desire in the Labour party to reverse or renegotiate some of the consequences of Brexit.

The PM denies he's heading in that direction, but his new firmer plan to move closer with the single market – the giant economic European market – will probably provoke protests that he is going back on his vow never to try to overturn the choices that flowed from Brexit.

A move to align with more of the single market will delight a faction on his own side, but it is prime ammunition for Reform and the Conservatives to